Tennis Practice Assembly

ABSTRACT

A tennis practice assembly for enhancing hand eye coordination during tennis practice includes a practice tennis ball that has a diameter which is less than a traditional tennis ball. In this way the practice tennis ball can enhance hand-eye coordination of a tennis player during tennis practice. The practice tennis ball has a diameter ranging between approximately 1.5 inches and 2.5 inches. In this way the practice tennis ball is large enough to be used for practicing tennis while being smaller than a traditional tennis ball. The practice tennis ball has ornamental indicia printed thereon for enhancing the ornamental appearance of the practice tennis ball.

(B) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

(C) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

(D) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

Not Applicable

(E) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

Not Applicable

(F) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

(G) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to tennis devices and more particularly pertains to a new tennis device for enhancing hand eye coordination during tennis practice. The device includes a practice tennis ball which has a diameter that is less than the diameter of a traditional tennis ball. Additionally, the device includes ornamental indicia printed thereon to enhance the ornamental appearance of the practice tennis ball.

Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 And 1.98

The prior art relates to tennis devices including a tennis ball has less mass than a traditional tennis ball for facilitating children to practice tennis. The prior art disclose a practice tennis ball that has a greater diameter than a traditional tennis ball to facilitate a beginner to practice tennis. The prior art discloses a practice tennis ball that is comprised of a material that more readily deforms as compared to a traditional tennis ball.

(H) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a practice tennis ball that has a diameter which is less than a traditional tennis ball. In this way the practice tennis ball can enhance hand-eye coordination of a tennis player during tennis practice. The practice tennis ball has a diameter ranging between approximately 1.5 inches and 2.5 inches. In this way the practice tennis ball is large enough to be used for practicing tennis while being smaller than a traditional tennis ball. The practice tennis ball has ornamental indicia printed thereon for enhancing the ornamental appearance of the practice tennis ball.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

(I) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a traditional tennis ball of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a tennis practice assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a back view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

(J) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 3 thereof, a new tennis device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 3 , the tennis practice assembly 10 generally comprises a practice tennis ball 12 that has a diameter which is less than a traditional tennis ball 14 to enhance hand-eye coordination of a tennis player during tennis practice. The practice tennis ball 12 has a diameter ranging between approximately 1.5 inches and 2.5 inches. In this way the practice tennis ball 12 is large enough to be used for practicing tennis while still being smaller than a traditional tennis ball 14. The practice tennis ball 12 is comprised of the same materials of which the traditional tennis ball 14 is comprised, including but not being limited to, a hollow rubber core and a textile outer covering which may be comprised of wool or nylon.

The practice tennis ball 12 has an outer surface 16 and the outer surface 16 has a line 18 that is recessed into the outer surface 16. Furthermore, the line 18 travels an undulating oblong course along the outer surface 16 such that the practice tennis ball 12 has the ornamental appearance of a traditional tennis ball 14. Additionally, the outer surface 16 has a highly visible color, such as blaze orange or other similar color. The outer surface 16 has letter indicia 20 printed thereon and the letter indicia 20 comprise a capital letter “A”. The outer surface 16 has ball indicia 22 printed thereon and the ball indicia 22 comprise an image of a tennis ball that is aligned with an opening in the capital letter “A”.

The outer surface 16 has net indicia 24 printed thereon and the net indicia 24 comprise an image of a tennis net extending across a lateral arm 26 of the capital letter “A”. The outer surface 16 has flame indicia 28 printed thereon and the flame indicia 28 comprise an image of flames each extending downwardly from the net indicia 24. Additionally, the flame indicia 28 are positioned between a pair of legs 30 of the capital letter “A”. Each of the letter indicia 20, the ball indicia 22, the net indicia 24 and the flame indicia 28 are positioned within the undulating oblong course defined by the line 18 that is recessed into the outer surface 16 of the practice tennis ball 12. Additionally, each of the letter indicia 20, the ball indicia 22, the net indicia 24 and the flame indicia 28 have a color that highly contrasts with the color of the outer surface 16 of the practice tennis ball 12, such as black or the like. In this way the letter indicia 20, the ball indicia 22, the net indicia 24 and the flame indicia 28 are highly visible on the practice tennis ball 12.

In use, the practice tennis ball 12 is employed during tennis practice in lieu of a traditional tennis ball 14. In this way the practice tennis ball 12 enhances hand eye coordination associated with the game of tennis. Thus, a player will display greater accuracy and control when the game of tennis is played with a traditional sized tennis ball. In this way the player can more rapidly improve their tennis skills as compared to practicing with a traditional tennis ball 14.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements. 

1. A tennis practice assembly comprising a tennis ball with a reduced diameter as compared to a traditional tennis ball for enhancing hand eye coordination of a tennis player, said assembly comprising: a practice tennis ball having a diameter being less than a traditional tennis ball wherein said practice tennis ball is configured to enhance hand-eye coordination of a tennis player during tennis practice, said practice tennis ball having a diameter ranging between approximately 1.5 inches and 1.9 inches wherein said practice tennis ball is configured to be large enough to be used for practicing tennis while being smaller than a traditional tennis ball, said practice tennis ball having ornamental indicia being printed thereon for enhancing the ornamental appearance of said practice tennis ball.
 2. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said practice tennis ball has an outer surface, said outer surface having a line being recessed into said outer surface, said line travelling an undulating oblong course along said outer surface wherein said practice tennis ball is configured to have the ornamental appearance of a traditional tennis ball.
 3. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said ornamental indicia includes letter indicia being printed on an outer surface of said practice tennis ball, said letter indicia comprising a capital letter “A”.
 4. The assembly according to claim 3, wherein said ornamental indicia includes ball indicia being printed on said outer surface, said ball indicia comprising an image of a tennis ball being aligned with an opening in the capital letter “A”.
 5. The assembly according to claim 3, wherein said ornamental indicia includes net indicia being printed on said outer surface, said net indicia comprising an image of a tennis net extending across a lateral arm of said capital letter “A”.
 6. The assembly according to claim 5, wherein said ornamental indicia includes flame indicia being printed on said outer surface, said flame indicia comprising an image of flames each extending downwardly from said net indicia having said flame indicia being positioned between a pair of legs of said capital letter “A”.
 7. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein: said practice tennis ball has an outer surface, said outer surface having a line being recessed into said outer surface, said line travelling an undulating oblong course along said outer surface wherein said practice tennis ball is configured to have the ornamental appearance of a traditional tennis ball; and said ornamental indicia includes letter indicia, ball indicia, net indicia and flame indicia, each of said letter indicia, said ball indicia, said net indicia and said flame indicia being positioned within said undulating oblong course defined by said line being recessed into said outer surface of said practice tennis ball.
 8. A tennis practice assembly comprising a tennis ball with a reduced diameter as compared to a traditional tennis ball for enhancing hand eye coordination of a tennis player, said assembly comprising: a practice tennis ball having a diameter being less than a traditional tennis ball wherein said practice tennis ball is configured to enhance hand-eye coordination of a tennis player during tennis practice, said practice tennis ball having a diameter ranging between approximately 1.5 inches and 1.9 inches wherein said practice tennis ball is configured to be large enough to be used for practicing tennis while being smaller than a traditional tennis ball, said practice tennis ball having an outer surface, said outer surface having a line being recessed into said outer surface, said line travelling an undulating oblong course along said outer surface wherein said practice tennis ball is configured to have the ornamental appearance of a traditional tennis ball, said outer surface having letter indicia being printed thereon, said letter indicia comprising a capital letter “A”, said outer surface having ball indicia being printed on said outer surface, said ball indicia comprising an image of a tennis ball being aligned with an opening in the capital letter “A”, said outer surface having net indicia being printed on said outer surface, said net indicia comprising an image of a tennis net extending across a lateral arm of said capital letter “A”, said outer surface having flame indicia being printed on said outer surface, said flame indicia comprising an image of flames each extending downwardly from said net indicia having said flame indicia being positioned between a pair of legs of said capital letter “A”, each of said letter indicia, said ball indicia, said net indicia and said flame indicia being positioned within said undulating oblong course defined by said line being recessed into said outer surface of said practice tennis ball. 